


Comedy Relief - A Changechildren side story

by haruka



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Community: fic_promptly, M/M, Prince of Tennis - Freeform, changechildren
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-17
Updated: 2011-12-17
Packaged: 2017-10-27 10:47:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/294968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haruka/pseuds/haruka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bunta's Mood Making power reacts strangely to Shinji.</p><p>This is a side story for my Changechildren fic.</p><p>Written for fic_promptly on Dreamwidth. The prompt is stated at the end of the ficlet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Comedy Relief - A Changechildren side story

Comedy Relief – A Changechildren side story (Prince of Tennis)

By Haruka (haruka@ymail.com)

\--

Another burst of laughter came from the Changechildren gathered in the theatre room of the mansion. They were watching a not-yet-released sequel to a popular comedy movie that Atobe had managed to obtain. Atobe himself wasn't present, but several others were, and so far the movie seemed to be a hit with all of them, except for one.

Bunta was sitting behind Shinji and Akira, and while the Fudomine speed demon was laughing like crazy in all the right places, he hadn't seen Shinji laugh once. Not ONCE. In a comedy movie, and a really funny one, at that! Everyone knew that Shinji was a weirdo who never showed much emotion, but come ON. Bunta's Mood Making power was all about emotion, and although he tried to focus on Shinji to read whether or not he was actually amused by what he was seeing, he was finding it difficult. Maybe because he was surrounded by so much of it from the other boys, or because Shinji was just that bland, he couldn't tell. It bothered him.

"Is something wrong?" his boyfriend, Jiroh, stretched and yawned beside him. "You're frowning, and you stopped chewing your gum."

Bunta was used to Jiroh falling asleep in the movies, even comedies. Having the lights turned down didn't help, when Jiroh could just as easily sleep outside on a sunny day. Bunta was able to sense that he at least found the movie funny, despite his usual drowsiness. "It's Shinji." He jerked his chin toward him. "He's not laughing, and I can't read his emotions in here."

"Hmm," Jiroh said thoughtfully, "you can't, or it's harder?"

"Right now, I can't," Bunta replied. "I can read YOU, but maybe because I'm closer to you."

Jiroh smiled. "In more ways than distance."

Bunta grinned a little. "Yeah. But I can sense that everyone else here is feeling good and enjoying the movie, and I can't with him."

"Ssh!" scolded one of the other boys in the room.

Jiroh lowered his voice, "Wait until it's over and we're all leaving, then try again."

Bunta didn't say so, but he figured if Shinji still hadn't laughed once by the end of the movie, that would be answer in itself.

\--

Half an hour later, as all the boys were getting up to exit the theatre, Bunta turned to Jiroh. "He never laughed at all! I think –"

He stopped. Jiroh was fast asleep. Bunta shook his head and left without him.

Shinji and Akira were up ahead and he hurried to come up behind them. He tried again to discern Shinji's emotions and this time picked up on contentment. Okay, so did that mean he enjoyed the movie or was he just glad to be with Akira? Bunta caught a glimpse of the other boy's face and it was still expressionless. Ever since developing his power, people like Shinji tended to get under Bunta's skin. It just wasn't natural for someone to always be so outwardly … boring.

"Hey, Akira!" He tapped his shoulder. "I want to talk to you alone for a minute."

Akira looked confused, and rightfully so; he wasn't sure he and Bunta had ever spoken before. "Uh, sure." He glanced at Shinji. "I'll see you in a few minutes, okay?"

"That's fine," Shinji answered, continuing down the hall alone. "Although, I have to wonder what Marui Bunta from Rikkaidai would have to say to Akira," he mumbled as he walked. "It's not like they're on the same team or go to the same school, or are even the same age. The only things they have in common are red hair and being Changechildren …."

Bunta watched him go, mumbling all the way until he disappeared around a corner.

"So, what's up?" Akira asked, his long bangs flopping across one eye as he turned his head quickly. His power of Speed sometimes made him antsy, and now he was shifting from foot to foot.

"It's about your boyfriend," Bunta answered. "I've gotta ask – has he EVER laughed? Like, out loud?"

Akira blinked and stopped bouncing. He frowned. "Of course he has."

"So you've actually SEEN him laugh?" Bunta blew a bubble with his gum. "Because he didn't do it at all during that movie just now."

Akira opened his mouth to reply, then closed it, thinking. "Well …." He frowned at Bunta suddenly. "What difference does it make to you, anyway?"

"It doesn't!" he replied hotly. "It's just …." He shrugged. "He throws off my power, so I'm just trying to make sense of it."

"Guess you'll just have to deal with it, then." In a flash, Akira was gone and Bunta was standing alone.

"Auuuugh!"

\--

Shinji never truly felt lonely, thanks to his power, but he missed Akira while he was gone because the longer he wasn't there, the longer he was with Bunta, discussing something the Rikkai player hadn't wanted him to hear.

"I'm back!" Akira seemed to just appear in the room, but that was only because he moved so fast, Shinji hadn't seen him arrive.

"What did he want?" Shinji asked suspiciously.

Akira shook his head. "Nothing important, he's an idiot. Come on, let's play video games."

"Set it up and I'll be right back," his boyfriend replied, heading for the door. "Bathroom."

\--

Several minutes later, Bunta was just getting comfortable in his room when Shinji walked up to his doorway. He raised an eyebrow at the other boy. Had Akira told him what they'd talked about? If so, it didn't matter. He hadn't said anything that wasn't true.

"Yeah, what?" he asked Shinji.

He wasn't sure what he expected as a response, but it certainly wasn't for the Fudomine tensai to snort and cover his mouth like he was trying to suppress something. Next thing he knew, Shinji had burst out laughing. It came harder and louder, until he was holding his sides and tears were streaming down his face.

It went on for so long that other kids came out of their rooms and were peering in from behind Shinji to see what he was laughing at. Some of them began chuckling when they saw Bunta, because obviously SOMETHING must be funny about him to make the stoic Ibu Shinji react like this. Not to mention the stunned look on Bunta's face was pretty funny all on its own.

Finally, Shinji wound down to soft giggling, and wiping his eyes, he turned and left.

"Bunta, what the heck was that all about?" his teammate, Kirihara Akaya, asked him, wide-eyed.

Their team Captain, Yukimura Seiichi, looked more than a little suspicious. "Were you using your power on him?"

"That must be it, it must!" Momoshiro Takeshi piped up. "Wait'll the adults find out!"

"But I wasn't doing anything to him!" Bunta protested. "He just came in and started laughing for no reason!" It sounded ridiculous, even to him, so how could he expect anyone to believe it? One thing was for sure, he wasn't going to be investigating Shinji with his power anymore; he was just TOO weird.

\--

"Shinji!" Akira cut him off at the end of the hall, his expression one of amazement. "What the heck just happened back there? How did you find out Bunta was obsessed over you laughing?"

Shinji looked at him. "I spoke to his theatre seat and the light fixtures in the hallway. Between them, I found out what he had been saying back during the movie and afterwards with you."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you myself," Akira admitted. "I didn't want your feelings to be hurt."

Shinji was puzzled. "How could someone like that hurt me? You worry too much." He continued down the hall and Akira followed eagerly, grinning to himself at how the Mood Maker might want to use that power of his to turn off his nosiness in the future.

\--

Theme: Humour  
Prompt: Any, any, full-bellied laughter

(2011)

Prince of Tennis belongs to Konomi Takeshi.

This fic is not to be re-posted.


End file.
